October 1, 2025
AI is advancing faster than our systems. Our new blog outlines five actions policymakers can take to put workers, learners, and businesses on stronger footing.
For over 40 years, Jobs for the Future (JFF) has worked to transform education and workforce systems to better serve learners and workers. In 2023, we set a bold new goal: by 2033, 75 million people facing barriers to economic advancement will have quality jobs. Today, we are considering the many ways artificial intelligence (AI) could help us achieve that vision—or derail it.
As with past waves of automation, AI is poised to create new jobs and fields, with the potential to expand opportunities and usher in new waves of innovation. Without action, we risk widening opportunity gaps and losing a generation of workers to technological change. That’s why JFF believes federal policymakers must act to build public system capacity, expand access to AI-enabled technologies and good data, and equip workers with the skills and the tools they need to thrive.
A JFF-commissioned survey shows just how quickly the landscape is changing: AI use in the workplace jumped from 8% to 35% between 2023 and 2024, yet more than half of workers say they don’t feel prepared to use it in their jobs.
At the same time, the systems that should help people prepare for these changes are struggling to keep up. Labor market data is fragmented, legacy career navigation and counseling are underpowered, and even as AI-related training expands, resources are often out of reach for the learners who need them most. JFF’s review of leading AI-literacy curricula found many are written at a grade 11 level—well above the reading proficiency of millions of adult learners.
Meeting this moment will require strengthening the capacity of public systems and private partners to respond to labor market shifts driven by AI, ensuring that workers have both the information and the skills needed to compete for the jobs of the future. Success will depend not only on access to AI-related technical training but also on the durable human skills—communication, critical thinking, adaptability—that employers consistently identify as essential, regardless of how technology evolves.
As federal policymakers shoulder this task, here are five immediate actions they can take to put workers, learners, and businesses on stronger footing.
Congress should amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to create a national network of AI Workforce Centers of Excellence—regional hubs and one national coordinating center—anchored by community colleges or consortia of nonprofit entities. These centers would serve as hubs for identifying the myriad jobs that will change or be created by AI, scaling AI skills programming, offering technical assistance and research to workforce boards, educators, and employers, and expanding access in communities without robust existing training programs. Adequately funded regional centers would provide localized support, while the national center would drive alignment, avoid duplication, and share best practices—a model already embraced by policymakers in support of workforce development in the semiconductor industry.
Notably, the administration’s America’s AI Action Plan and Talent Strategy embrace a similar idea, calling for the creation of an AI Workforce Research Hub under the Department of Labor (DOL) to lead a sustained federal effort to accelerate understanding of AI’s impact on the economy and highlight experiences of the American worker. Congressional action is also needed to ensure these efforts can be expanded, receive dedicated investment, and are sustained across administrations—ensuring the public systems serving learners and workers nationwide are fully prepared for the new world of work, with these centers helping to drive America’s AI-ready workforce.
Too many people make high-stakes decisions about training and work without clear guidance or reliable information. While AI technologies can disrupt the labor market, they can also help workers navigate that disruption. Congress should establish a Digital Transformation Fund to ensure that workers and learners have access to cutting-edge AI-powered career navigation platforms that draw on recent and reliable labor market data.
This fund would direct most resources to states, providing grants to state workforce agencies to build state and regional capacity, modernize labor market data systems, and adopt career navigation platforms that guide workers and learners toward education and career pathways that align with in-demand skills, their interests, and opportunities with strong ROI. Many platforms already exist, so states could use this investment to determine what works best for their unique needs and pilot new AI-enabled tools to enhance service delivery.
Part of this fund should be retained nationally to modernize federal data systems, which contain deep and detailed data yet are fragmented and highly restricted. Greater alignment between federal data agencies, and perhaps a new interagency data entity—as proposed by the Data Quality Campaign—could both improve the performance of these career navigation tools and help regional leaders, including the AI Workforce Centers of Excellence, design effective training and employer engagement strategies. Together, these investments would align federal and state capacity, make workforce data more transparent, and deliver navigation platforms that actually work—helping more American workers chart reliable paths to good jobs in an AI-driven economy.
AI is reshaping jobs faster than many employers can adapt their training programs, with workers at risk of being left behind. To incentivize businesses to invest in in-demand skill training for current workers, Congress should pass the Investing in American Workers Act, establishing a federal employer tax credit for high-quality worker training, structured similarly to the R&D credit. This legislation would create a strong incentive for employers to enhance their investment in their low- and middle-wage workers’ skills development by offering a tax credit equal to 20% of the increase in qualified training spending above a three-year baseline. The training must go to workers earning $82,000 or less and lead to a recognized credential, such as a certificate, apprenticeship, or degree, to ensure workers receive meaningful upskilling experiences that are valuable across multiple employers.
In addition to this tax credit, Congress should also raise the cap on “incumbent worker training” under WIOA, which is currently included in A Stronger Workforce for America Act. This change would allow local workforce boards—particularly in areas with low unemployment or high labor force participation—to help current employees gain new skills to avoid displacement and advance their careers. Taken together, a targeted tax credit and increasing incumbent worker training through the public workforce system represent a fast and scalable approach to helping workers build new skills without leaving the labor force.
While reaching those already in the workforce is critical, we must also ensure that young people gain both AI-related skills and essential human skills. This is especially urgent given recent warnings that AI may be contributing to the reduction of entry-level roles, particularly for recent college graduates. Apprenticeships can help solve this challenge by getting young people in the door at companies, allowing them to demonstrate their skills, build critically important social capital and domain expertise, and earn wages while they learn.
That’s why Congress should codify the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grant (YARG) program. From 2020 to 2024, YARG funded 14 grantees across 12 states and DC to expand registered apprenticeships—including pre-apprenticeship models—and provide wraparound supports that help youth persist and complete their programs. These efforts served both in-school and out-of-school youth aged 16 to 24, connecting them to industry-aligned training in sectors like IT, health care, and advanced manufacturing. Codifying YARG with an emphasis on AI readiness would make this investment permanent, ensuring it prioritizes AI-relevant industries, continues to include out-of-school youth, and supports on-ramps like pre-apprenticeship that lead to high-quality apprenticeships and good jobs.
By leveraging apprenticeship programs as proven models for blending entry into the workforce with a clear focus on learning, Congress can create pathways that not only build technical and employability skills but also give young people the professional networks, real-world experience, and wage stability needed to compete in a labor market where traditional entry-level roles are disappearing. This approach directly addresses the AI disruption in early-career hiring while aligning with the administration’s calls to integrate AI literacy and skills into the nation’s apprenticeship systems, all while meeting the goal of 1 million active apprenticeships annually in the United States.
Even with proactive upskilling strategies, some workers will still lose their jobs, and in some cases, entire occupations will be disrupted by AI. Without rapid, targeted support, too many risk long spells of unemployment, declining earnings, and permanent labor force exit.
The administration has acknowledged this challenge in recent plans, directing DOL to use available discretionary funds to support rapid retraining and proposing pilots, run by states and workforce intermediaries under existing waiver and demonstration authority, to surface scalable, performance-driven strategies for adapting the public workforce systems to the speed and complexity of AI-driven change.
JFF agrees that leveraging current federal programs is essential, but believes increased, sustained resources will be needed to meet the scale of disruption. Congress should expand the popular Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) program, which provides individualized career counseling, job search assistance, labor market information, and resume support.
RESEA is one of the most effective programs for reconnecting unemployed workers to the labor market—so successful that each RESEA dollar saves the government four dollars in avoided unemployment insurance costs. It also has demonstrated bipartisan support: less than a year ago, Congress passed the BRIDGE for Workers Act, which permanently broadens eligibility for reemployment services—allowing states to provide these services to all UI claimants, not just those most likely to exhaust benefits. But receipt of benefits is still limited by scarce federal funding.
Congress should build on this momentum by increasing investments in RESEA to ensure all UI claimants have access to high-quality and rapid help, including front-door assessment, proactive coaching, and placement support. Congress should also ensure RESEA and the public workforce system are aligned and working together to ensure unemployed workers also have access to education and training that prepares them for in-demand jobs. The training should emphasize foundational digital and AI literacy so displaced workers can compete for the jobs AI is creating. The bipartisan Digital Skills for Today’s Workforce Act, which establishes “Digital Skills at Work” grants within WIOA to scale digital instruction through workforce, adult education, and higher-education systems, offers a strong model Congress should move forward with.
Aligned with the road map outlined in JFF’s AI for Economic Opportunity and Advancement: A Call to Action, these five policy proposals form a clear, actionable plan to strengthen our public systems, open more high-quality career pathways, and ensure that AI becomes a force for opportunity rather than division and insecurity. As national leaders continue to set priorities, introduce policy, and work to implement their plans for an AI-ready workforce, JFF is prepared to partner with Congress, the administration, and communities nationwide to make these plans a reality.
Policy Recommendations to Invest in Our Workforce and Economy JFF urges the 119th Congress to prioritize six key policy actions in 2025 to ensure that U.S. workers and learners face ‘no dead ends’ on the…
This report highlights the need for states to build more effective career navigation systems to better meet the needs of all young people and analyzes the extent to which each state has enacted the policies…